M5 – L1 – Kwikwetlem Project & Raj – My Post – July 29 / 2010
Hi all,
Here’s my thoughts about Raj!
What do we know?
The Far West: A History of BC (http://www.knowbc.com/learninglayer/farwestmain.html) is a generic website about whole province but not Coquitlam (or Kwikwetlem in particular). It’s from a European perspective rather than an Aboriginal perspective which leaves us to question its authenticity.
The Kwikwetlem First Nation has its own website (http://www.kwikwetlem.com/home) but may be too sophisticated for gr 5.
Raj videotaped Chief Percy Cunningham’ storytelling and took over 100 photos so he has lots to work with.
When deciding on my three questions, I found that Siemens four criteria for media selection correlate nicely with Boyes, Dowie & Rumzan description of media selection using the Bates & Pooles’ SECTIONS model.
What might be 3 important questions Raj could ask himself when deciding which multimedia to include?
1. Outcomes & Blooms Taxonomy (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation, Creating) – Siemens
How does a particular multimedia achieve, enhance and / or improve the curriculum outcomes and his students’ learning and understanding of Kwikwetlem?
Raj needs to ask himself why he is using multimedia in this unit, and whether multimedia is “the best way” to teach the content and achieve the learning outcomes. His students may find it exciting to experience multimedia in their learning due to the novelty effect.
2. Students & Ease of Use – Bates & Poole
What is the technology skill level needed of Raj and his students and where are they starting from, what is their current familiarity and comfort level using technology?
It may be his first time to use a particular multimedia. Raj also has to find out if there is any technical support available for him to work with the multimedia. If the students are using a multimedia for assessment, it has to be straightforward and easy for them to use. Otherwise, we may end up having the parents to do the project for their kids!
3. Media Appropriateness & Access – Boyes, Dowie & Rumzan
Is the chosen multimedia suitable and appropriate for gr. 5 and accessible at school and home?
As teachers, we have to be ready to “be the ones” to introduce computer and multimedia to our students and educate them appropriately. This includes teaching them about online safety and etiquette. Raj may need to deal with the parents in this regard and explain the online project, safety precautions and learning outcomes to them.
Do you think Raj can deliver this in a month?
Absolutely! If he is to spend 10 hours per week on the five lessons, he will have a total of 40 hours to work on it – although he may want to spare some time for insurance. To engage his students in learning Kwikwetlem and its culture, Raj may want to use a Web2.0 tool such as Prezi (as many have mentioned). Prezi is a great tool for this type of self directed learning activity. He could use any of the other story-telling tools as well if he didn’t want to learn Prezi. With over 100 photos in his camera and a video starring Chief Perry Cunningham, he can come up with an engaging story featuring the Kwikwetlem First Nation.
As others have mentioned, if the video is rather lengthy, Raj can edit the video with Windows Movie Maker (which comes with the Windows Vista OS) into shorter clips, and incorporate them into shorter slideshows. Many of the Web 2.0 tools allow users to add captions or text to imported pictures with sound and video. Raj can also use Toondoo or Comiqs to stimulate his students with cartoons, but their functionalities are in general limited to pictures and text bubbles only.
To engage students in making personal connection to Kwikwetlem, Raj may want to ask his students to do a group project on the Kwikwetlem First Nation, and present their research using one of the Web2.0 tools that they may have explored in class by the end of the unit.
References
Bates, A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. New York: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated.
Boyes, J., Dowie, S. & Rumzan, I. (2005). Using the SECTIONS Framework to Evaluate Flash Media. Innovate Journal of Online Education, 2(1). Accessed online 12 March 2009 http://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol2_issue1/Using_the_SECTIONS_Framework_to_Evaluate_Flash_Media.pdf
Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating Media Characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm
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M5 – L2 – Dafna – My post – August 1st / 2010
Hi everyone,
Here’s my thoughts and suggestions for Dafna! She needs to think creatively here!
Dafna teaches Fine Arts in a Vancouver Board of Education (VBE) alternative high school program. Students there have, for various reasons, struggled in mainstream high school programmes. At her “school” a flexible structure, condensed (4 hour) day, and interdisciplinary approach to curriculum all result in increased attendance and improved grade 12 completion rates. Using classroom-based, small group and self-directed pedagogical approaches, students work through materials at their own pace, following Individual Learning Plans developed collaboratively. Currently the learning group Dafna facilitates has eight students studying Music 10.
Previously Dafna has created music videos of herself for her Music 10 Guitar students, which have been very well received. This year she has an even more exciting idea: having students make their own music videos of themselves.
The school has five (5) acoustic guitars available, and 4 iMac computers (which are used for other program components in addition to Music). Dafna has her own video camera and tripod, which students can borrow. Her Director has agreed to purchase 10 mini-DV cassettes for the project.
Because of the flexible nature of the programme, Dafna need only develop an estimated time for the lesson to be completed. She also has the option to make this an iterative tasks: one that students revisit from time to time over the course of several months.
The iterative approach is more easily adapted to the school, so Dafna expects the activity to go something like this:
Activity Time Needed Notes
Camera basics 2 hours Done in class
Shooting video 2 hours Done in class and out in the neighbourhood
Editing video 10 hours Capture, cropping, transitions, soundtrack, titles
Post-production 5 hours Export to DVD, iPod formats
1. Based on the resources available, how might Dafna organize this activity?
Dafna she has created some music videos in the past for her previous Music 10 Guitar students, so she shouldn’t have much problem with this digital learning object activity. Setting the bar high and teaching students by modeling high expectations are always the best strategy to get students work to their highest potential. She can present her videos as exemplars to the class and as a superior example of what can be created. If time is an issue, I suggest Dafna use only the best 2 or 3 of her videos.
However, Dafna has a few things to think about before she begins this activity…
• With only one camera to work with, Dafna must utilize her time as efficient as possible. Doing the math, two hours of video-shooting is definitely not enough for a class of 8 students when you divide the two hours by 8 that only gives each student 15 minutes with the video camera. Even pairing up her students, each of the 4 pairs would only have half an hour to work with the video camera – and that’s only if no technical difficulties arise, which is unlikely. Dafna may want to reach out to the community, perhaps the town library has video cameras for sign out. She could also reach out for educational funding from different corporate and charity groups to buy additional resources for future projects.
• However, if no other video cameras are scrounged up, Dafna may want to set up a sign-up procedure to sign out the one video camera so that students can take it home and shoot their video (insurance and school policy may be an issue though – she should check in to this).
• Another consideration for Dafna to think about is the comfort and skill level of her students with using a video camera. How much will she have to model and teach and how long will this take her? She needs to make sure that students know how to use a video camera during the 2 hours camera basics session(s). With this in mind, she also has to think about what kind of music videos she wants her students to create and how much guidance will her students need.
• Ultimately, Dafna needs to have a clear plan with specific objectives to achieve and a plan to assess them. A good idea would be for Dafna to give the rubric for the activity to her students at the beginning of the activity. This way her students will know exactly what is expected. Or, she could have her students help her create the rubric. I find when including students in the rubric creation process, students are more critical, clear and specific about what they expect and they end up having a very clear picture of what is expected.
• Once her students are done with the shooting, editing their videos and post-production shouldn’t be a problem. Dafna must remember to book the iMac for video editing well ahead of time so that it is available and not already booked by another class at that time. Pairing her students up works well since there are four iMac’s for her students to share.
2. How might she disseminate the music videos, once created?
Dafna can choose from a variety of Web2.0 tools for the students to post their music videos online. Likely she would want to have these videos portable, thus available to be downloaded onto iPods so she could make sure that this is available to her students. But, Youtube is probably the most popular place for her students to post so they can export to DVD and iPod formats and her students probably have the most experience with Youtube.
Dafna could create a showcase night, or talent show for her students to show off their talent and their videos. These are mostly done live but she could show her students initial videos and then have them play live to show their improvement. This could be done later in the semester. We have a similar thing at our school called “Art & Soul” and a separate talent show. The students love showing off what they can do! I think Dafna’s students would enjoy it too!
However, Dafna may want to find a secure site. She could check with the Vancouver Board of Education to see if her students can upload their music videos onto a password-secure server. If that’s not available, she could insist that her students use some sort of special effect like blurring effect, dreamy abstract, fantasy… etc. on the music videos so their faces cannot be identified. If time is limited, Dafna can always go back to old-school and burning all the music videos together onto a DVD (or VCD).
Oh wow, did I just call burning DVD old-school? Weird, it automatically came out! 😉 I guess I’ve come a long way! Lots to do Dafna, good luck finding more video cameras!